How Minnesota Gen Z voters could help state keep top turnout rank

Project 2025, climate change, abortion and immigration are the issues Addison Theis is thinking most about as she plans to vote in her first presidential election this fall, one she says will be consequential. 

“It’s all in the air, especially with like Roe v. Wade being overturned,” said Theis, a first-year student at the University of Minnesota who said she will definitely vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Other Gen Z voters are unsure whether they will vote in the upcoming election. Why? In Augsburg University senior Kevin Iragaba’s case, it’s “the fact that (politicians) just lie. They never tell the truth,” he said.

“I’m just kind of second guessing what is it that I want to vote (for),” Iragaba said. “What is it that I want to be done? But I don’t think both parties are going to be providing (it).” 

Even if some Gen Z voters are on the fence, Minnesota youth are expected to have a strong impact on November’s election. The state boasted the highest voter turnout among young people ages 18-29 in the 2020 election, with 65% of eligible voters in that age range casting ballots, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Nationally just 50% of young voters turned out in that election.

The issues motivating young voters are different from the overall electorate. For example, in the 2022 midterm election, young voters ages 18-29 were the only age group that prioritized abortion, while older voters prioritized inflation.  

Abortion rights are among the top issues for Madison Stiffler, a 20-year-old tattoo artist, who said she will probably vote in the upcoming election. Climate change and immigration are also on her mind. But she added in the younger generation, there is more talk of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. 

“We’re facing completely different problems, I feel,” Stiffler said. “Like the older generation definitely didn’t need to deal with the type of housing dilemma we have, like houses are a lot more expensive and it’s a lot more common to be LGBT(Q)+ people, stuff like that.”

Grace Lopez, a second-year student at the University of St. Thomas, said she thinks young voters think about the election differently than older voters. 

“I think the older generation kind of looks more backwards, like, ‘Oh, where have we gone right in the past?’” Lopez said. “And then they kind of tend to vote from there. The younger generation, I think they just kind of want to see the future.” 

Lopez said she has not voted before, but plans to vote in the upcoming election. She added she is not a fan of politics in general. 

“I feel like there’s a lot of corruption in both parties, so that’s kind of what has turned me off,” Lopez said. “But I feel like in a way, I can make a difference if I do vote, at least for someone.” 

Besides having a record of strong voter turnout among young people, CIRCLE, a nonpartisan research center based at Tufts University, ranked Minnesota sixth in “youth electoral significance.” The ranking looks at which states are most likely to shape 2024 political races. What contributes to Minnesota’s strong youth turnout are socioeconomic indicators like low unemployment and high median income, according to CIRCLE.

Minnesota recently passed a law aimed at making it easier for college students to vote. Oliver Johnston, a second-year student at Augsburg University, said when he first moved into the dorms on campus, the school helped him register to vote with the new address.

“You can vote here at school and they have time off of classes so you can, so I think that they definitely do a good job of it,” Johnston said. 

While Johnston said he will likely vote this year and has voted in the past, he is disillusioned with the idea that voting can change much. “I still feel like it’s a good thing to do,” Johnston said.

Universities, student groups work to boost turnout

Political campaigns, student groups and college and university staff are all involved in getting students registered and prepared to vote. 

Christopher Flemming, the chair of Minnesota College Republicans and president of the St. Olaf College chapter of College Republicans, said the group’s goal is to increase voter turnout among Republican college students and involve the school in the campaign. 

“I would say the top issues we’re hearing from college kids would be immigration and probably interest rates/inflation in terms of a lot of seniors or graduating students … concerned about buying a house,” Flemming said.

Flemming said Gen Z has a lot of potential to help fix some of the nation’s problems. 

“It seems to be a pretty political generation, some higher engagement than the millennials were at the age bracket we’re at now,” Flemming said. “I think we often hear, especially on things like climate change and stuff, we hear people say, ‘Oh, well your generation is going to have to fix that,’ so I think it’s important because we don’t really have any other option.” 

Merrie Benasutti, the University of Minnesota’s voting coordinator, said she thinks it is important for those at higher education institutions to help younger people learn about voting and what it means to vote. 

“I would hope that not just around voting, I would hope that we are helping young people think about how to be engaged citizens in all we do,” Benasutti said.

In 2023, Minnesota passed legislation requiring all higher education institutions that enroll students accepting state or federal financial aid to have a voting coordinator. But Benasutti said it is the students who lead the way when it comes to voting efforts.

“A big part of that is Undergraduate Student Government (at the University of Minnesota),” Benasutti said, adding that the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) has a Row the Vote student initiative, a knock-off on the Gopher athletic teams’ Row the Boat slogan, which hired 17 students to help visit classes, table, register students.

Riley Hetland, the director of civic engagement for USG, said it has always been important to her to help people understand they have a voice. 

“Some of the young people don’t understand that we can make a change,” Hetland said. “Our voices are super important.” 

Hetland helps coordinate Row the Vote and said USG will focus on voter education.

“This will really be about educating voters as best as we can in a non-partisan way,” Hetland said. “We’re going to have some really fun events throughout the end of October to educate voters as best as possible.” 

Benasutti said when talking to students, a common phrase she might hear is, “My vote does not matter.”

“What I say to that student is, ‘Well, I can point you to a number of races where the candidate won by only one or two votes,’” Benasutti said. “You can’t tell me that your vote doesn’t matter.” 

Hetland said she thinks everyone is passionate about this election, both national and local. She said that includes issues surrounding rent prices and not having a grocery store. 

“They’re really focusing in on a lot of our local elections, which I think is something that’s super amazing and important that young people are actively educating themselves about these issues and noticing something wrong that they want to change,” Hetland said. 

Benasutti, however, said she believes students are less knowledgeable and invested in their local elections because of all the information about the national election. 

“I think part of that has to do with just the time of their lives, I mean they’re kind of transient,” Benasutti said. “They might be here going to school, but they’re open to moving somewhere for a job after they finish school or go back to their home. So they haven’t really engaged locally so much.”

Editor’s note: Amelia Roessler wrote this story for MinnPost.com. She is a University of Minnesota journalism student completing a fall 2024 internship with MinnPost.

This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

MinnPost is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization whose mission is to provide high-quality journalism for people who care about Minnesota.